Tag: Waxahatchee

Holiday Ghosts bring you that refreshing fizzy jangle in a tall frosted glass.

When you set out to record a song that’s been famous, or popular, or claimed in some other way by some other artist, you are taking a shortcut with great risks and great rewards. Rarely can you pull it off the way Chicks On Speed do with their rendition of Cracker’s “Euro Trash Girl,” with a radical approach to deconstructing and reassembling the indie country hit. You’ll just have to hear for yourself.

Tonight, we start with a special presentation of My Favorite Lies, a one-hour collection of songs about untruths, deception, fakery, and more. Moving on, we filled the rest of the evening with the usual variety of genres, mostly from the last few months. Of particular note are new releases from Holiday Ghosts, Adrienne Lenker, and Alejandro Escovedo.

Pacing keeps it steady with a forward approach and some decent advice.

Things started out normally, with a cover and an excellent new single from Waxahatchee, but took a turn for the unexpected when the highly-anticipated Cat Empire set went missing. Was it skipped over on the player accidentally? Had I forgotten to make a copy to bring to the station? Could I download it from the backup at home? After a couple of sets of troubleshooting, it turned out I had named the file incorrectly. These are the hazards you encounter as a live-in-the-studio DJ, kids.

A strong, sometimes raspy female voice in front of a very clever power indie band can be the equivalent of beige wallpaper after all these years, but this outfit rises above that with a generous dose of unique hooks and singalong rhymes.

There are several sounds that are most definitely British, and with their clear soaring female vocals and intimate indie pop sensibility, The Catenary Wires are a textbook example of one of them.

Revisiting songs from their debut 2011 EP and various favorites from a ten-year career, this sunny folk-pop ensemble is buoyed by brightly colored harmony balloons dangling deathly sharp unexpected hooks. Listen with care and often.

It’s the triumphant return of Pom Poko and their shattered-and-reassembled attacks of aggression and affection, like the sonic equivalent of staying inside the sauna for as long as you can, then running out to roll around in the snow.

Katie Crutchfield, performing as Waxahatchee, has been slowly and steadily building her repertoire and now her talent is overflowing her banks.